Coping with a threat to quality of life: the case of the Prestige disaster

The Prestige disaster occurred off the Galician coast (North-West Spain), after the sinking of Prestige oil tanker in November 2002. The breaking up and sinking of the ship in heavy seas resulted in the discharge of thousands of tones of toxic and heavy oil. The oil was washed up not only on the Galician coast, but also along the North coast of Spain, and the West of France. A year later, the consequences of this accident on the quality of life of Galician people are only beginning to become apparent. The present study evaluates the inhabitants' and volunteers' perceptions and evaluations of the social impact of the disaster and its effect on the population. This paper also provides a diagnosis of the changing relationship between a damaged environment and a human community, both immediately and a year after the catastrophe. A total of 1491 and 1504 interviews were undertaken in Galicia in two phases of the research amongst people over 18 years old. This paper reports on the changes in the attitudes of the population in several respects: the degree to which they were affected by the catastrophe, their understanding of what happened, their attribution of responsibility and the assessment of the consequences, and finally, their feelings and assessment of satisfaction and credibility of the political institutions, organizations, and the media.